Dear Shorebird Pen Pals:
Howdy!! I hope you are all enjoying the spring migration. Shorebirds are
trecking the globe to their nesting grounds as we speak, which is sure
exciting and fun for all of us shorebird pals!! Hopefully you have your
spring field trip planned and are going to send a posting to the E-mail
list server to share your sightings with us.
Shorebirds have left South America for their long journey to Arctic Alaska
and Canada and it will now be several months before our pen pals down there
will have a chance to see them again. This past December, I had a chance
to go to Uruguay to meet our Shorebird Sister Schools in Rocha, Montevideo,
and Cabo Polonio. I had a chance to meet research biologists working with
the Buff-breasted Sandpipers, and work with environmental educators from
CIAAE (Centro de Investigacion Alternativa en Ambiente y Educacion) and
from Aves Argentinas. We had an excellent trip and got to see so many
wonderful birds. It was great to see Buff-breasted Sandpipers on the
wintering grounds in Uruguay. They were all out feeding on grazed cattle
fields and seemed very happy!! We are hoping you will also help to track
the Buff-breasted Sandpipers as they come through your area (See
http://sssp.fws.gov and click on 2002 Spring Tracking Projects.)
A new WWW Page was developed by our pen pals in Uruguay, on the
Buff-breasted Sandpiper and the local habitats. You should take a look -
it is really super!!
http://www.ciaae.org/PEHAP/Escuelas%20Hermanas%20de%20Aves%20Playeras.html
Adriana Cafferata, the South America Shorebird Sister Schools Program
Coordinator, is coming to Kansas from Buenos Aires in one week for the
Dedication Ceremony of a new Ramsar site - the Quivira National Wildlife
Refuge. Ramsar is the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance.
There are over 130 countries involved in Ramsar that network with one
another on wetland conservation issues. The Shorebird Sister School (5th
grade class) in Stafford, Kansas will be taking a field trip on May 3.
We'll be sure to make a posting and tell you all about it. In the mean
time, keep your eye out for shorebirds, and if you are in the Central
Flyway, keep an eye out in the grazed fields for Buff-breasted Sandpipers!!
Good Birding,
Heather
***********************************************
Heather Johnson
US Fish and Wildlife Service
Division of International Conservation
Senior Conservation Biologist
4401 N. Fairfax Dr., Suite 730
Arlington, Virginia 22203
ph: 703-358-1792
fax: 703-358-2849
heather_johnson@fws.gov
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